FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 2, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11 LIC residents wary of city’s rezoning proposal but the city was hoping to get closer to 6 million square feet, according to Senior Planner Penny Lee. “We really want to take a look at the development patterns EST. 1940 BY ANGELA MATUA amatua@qns.com/@ AngelaMatua A plan to rezone parts of Long Island City to encourage mixeduse development has many longtime neighborhood residents extremely concerned. The Department of City Planning (DCP) on Tuesday presented the Long Island City Core Neighborhood Planning Study in an auditorium at CUNY Law School. Th e neighborhood is one of 15 that Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced he wants to upzone to build and preserve more aff ordable housing as part of his Housing New York plan. Th e area identifi ed for the rezoning is a slice of the Court Square, Queens Plaza and Dutch Kills neighborhoods that have seen explosive development in recent years. Queens Plaza was rezoned in 2001 by DCP in the hopes that more offi ce space would be built. Instead, 13,000 units of housing went up or are in the process of being built, and only 5 percent or 650 units are aff ordable. About 2 million square feet of offi ce space was constructed or is in the process of being constructed, ANTIQUES & STERLING WANTED TOP DOLLAR PAID We Purchase all Gold, Antiques, Mid-Century and Pre-1950 Furniture, Paintings, Rugs, Sterling Silver, Bronzes, Jewelry, Bric-a-Brac, Marble Figures and Marble Top Furniture, Fine Porcelain, Entire Contents of Estates. Rugs and Paintings Wanted SHERBEE ANTIQUES Andrew Korman, Proprietor 718.762.7448 / 917.748.7622 PROMPT & COURTEOUS SERVICE ALL TIFFANY ITEMS WANTED We Come To You! going on, fi gure out how to re-establish a balance of uses here and then fi gure out how we can increase the percentage of aff ordable units,” she said. Many of those in the audience, who have lived in the neighborhoods for decades or are business owners, expressed frustration with rising rents and argued that this rezoning would only drive prices up. Jenny Dubnau, an artist with studio space in Dutch Kills, said her rent has increasingly become unaff ordable. “I’m very worried and there’s nothing in this plan that calms me because there are dozens and dozens of hotels, dozens of luxury high-rise buildings and even if you go to the deeper aff ordability in what we all know are luxury buildings the deeper aff ordability you get, the smaller the percentage,” she said. “So you get crumbs of possible aff ordability but then you have 80 percent that are luxury.” Dubnau said her landlord raised her art studio rent by 50 percent and argued that the market had changed because of the luxury apartments and new hotels going up in the area. “You’re going to get some strong pushback from me and a lot of other people unless we see that the building and development being done is for us so that we can stay here,” she said. Lee argued that the lack of offi ce space in the neighborhood is causing landlords who own the small portion of offi ce or industrial space to raise rent and that this plan would “relieve pressure” and lower rents. Photo by Angela Matua/THE COURIER
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